Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Chilean Food at ONA Supper Club

I'm eating around the world without leaving London and this post is all about the delicious Chilean food at ONA supper club I had last week. Of all the ethnic food here in London, I didn't manage to find a restaurant offering Chilean food, so a supper club it was.

ONA, which refers to an indigenous people in Chile, is a pop-up restaurant run by chef Marcelo Henriquez. I went to one of his supper clubs that was held in The Butcher's Shop in Camden, which might sound like a strange venue, but it was actually quite homey.

They had set two large tables for their guests and with lots of mood lighting and candles, it didn't feel like a cold butcher's at all.

This supper club was not a byo as they sell bottles or wine by the glass on the evening. All from Chile of course. I had a little bit of the red wine from my neighbour as she insisted she couldn't finish the entire bottle by herself. The things I do to help a sister out.

The food menu sounded very promising and as the various dishes came out, they didn't disappoint. Quite the opposite actually.

The first course wasn't really food, but a drink; it was a frothy pisco sour. A very potent one I might add, hence the reason I didn't actually order my own wine.

This was followed by a canape which was a baked oyster with bacon and green salsa. I'm not super crazy about oysters; I think it tastes just like swallowing a gulp of salty sea water. But these tasted more like bacon than sea water, so they were a big hit.

Then we had a crab gratin with garlic chili prawns as a pre-starter, a delicious dish so filling, I was dreading the size of the actual starter.

While we waited for that to arrive, we were offered some bread with tomato and garlic salsa.

I was already feeling rather full when the real starter was served. It was a pork and black pudding terrine with smoked chili and confit potatoes. It was good, but if I am really honest, the least favourite of all the dishes that night. I think it was because of the black pudding, which is also not something I am super crazy about.

The main consisted of smoked venison with artichokes, seaweed and chestnuts as well as pine nuts and pickled onions, which really hit the spot.

Before we could dig into our desserts, we were served a refreshing avocado sorbet palate cleanser. A rather nice palate cleanser that was.

Dessert was a sight for sore eyes and pleasing on the palate as well. It was a thousand layer cake with lucuma ice-cream, hazelnut praline and candied orange caramel.

I left before coffee and sweet farewells, as I had an early flight to catch the next morning, but normally this course is included in this fabulous supper club dinner as well.

I had a great time. The hosts were amazing and my fellow guests really sociable and of course I loved the food.

I booked ONA's Chilean supper club through the GrubClub webste, so check them out to see for more available dates.